Warning! The FCC is about to slap another E-Rate tax on our phone bill

WASHINGTON, DC -- Your phone bill may rise again next month, Libertarians warn, thanks to a sneaky long-distance charge from Washington, DC -- a $900 million increase in the so-called E-rate tax.

"We're irate over the E-rate," said Steve Dasbach, national director of the Libertarian Party. "Congress has given unelected bureaucrats the power to impose an unconstitutional tax on an unsuspecting public."

The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on Thursday (May 27, 1999) to approve a massive increase in the E-rate program, a multibillion-dollar telephone tax to pay for connecting every government-run school and library to the Internet.

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress instructed the FCC to create "mechanisms" to fund the program, and so the Commission slapped a 5% tax on all interstate long-distance phone calls.

"This tax is plainly unconstitutional because only Congress has the power to tax," said Dasbach. "But in this case, politicians were eager to delegate this power to the FCC. After all, you didn't vote the FCC commissioners into office -- and you can't vote them out. The result is that politicians evade the blame for raising taxes, while eagerly claiming credit for ladling out cash to schools and libraries in their districts."

The E-rate is sometimes referred to as the Gore Tax, Dasbach noted, because of the vice president's goal of wiring all schools to the Internet at taxpayer expense.

"Looks like the taxpayers are getting Gored -- again," said Dasbach. "Al Gore didn't invent the Internet, but he did invent a sneaky way for the government to milk it for tax revenue."

And the Republican response to the tax?

"In a typical example of GOP double-talk, they demanded that it be replaced -- with a different tax," said Dasbach. "Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, asserted that a telephone excise tax would be more 'honest.' But what would really be honest would be for Republicans to admit that government has no business forcing anyone to pay for anyone else's Internet access, period."

Dasbach also noted that FCC Chairman William Kennard had the gall to praise the multibillion-dollar program for its "affordability and efficiency."

"In a sense, every government program is affordable and efficient, for the government: Affordable, because politicians are paying for it with other people's money; and efficient, because if you don't pay up, you could get hauled off to jail."

The only solution, said Dasbach, is to abolish the E-rate program and tell the government to keep its hands off the Internet -- and its taxes off Americans' phone bills.

"We're telling Congress and the FCC that the 'E' in the so-called E-rate program stands for egregious, evasive, and exorbitant -- and it should be eliminated.

"If there's any benefit to this telephone tax, it's that students who get wired to the Internet as a result might read the Constitution on-line -- and learn that the E-rate is just another unconstitutional government program financed with another unconstitutional government tax."

To Join Or To Visit the National LP Website

Visit the Missouri State LP Website

Talk Back : Let us know what you think!

Home & Contents

Next Page